Appeals judge urges LPM to decide role in IPC’s presidential election challenge

Appeals judge Hosea Angula has advised the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) to decide whether it wants to be an applicant or a respondent in the Independent Patriots for Change’s court challenge of last year’s presidential election.

Angula said this on Thursday morning during a status hearing on the IPC’s election challenge in the Supreme Court.

He stressed that the court does not have “the luxury of time”.

The parties are asking the Supreme Court to set aside the result of the presidential election, which was won by Swapo candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah with 58% of votes counted, and to order that a new presidential election be held.

The LPM is also asking for votes cast on 29 and 30 November, after the election on 27 November was extended to those days, to be invalidated.

“The way you are approaching it is a bit confusing,” Angula said.

He said while the court orders the LPM is asking for differ slightly from the orders the IPC is asking for, it is still unclear where the LPM stands.

“But somehow there, in the middle of the papers, you just left it in the air, without making a decision as to what you want to be, and you responded with no idea,” he said.

The LPM’s counsel, Tshuka Luvindao, said his client is an applicant in the matter.

The court has ordered the applicants to file outstanding documents by 31 January.

The parties in the case have to return to court on 3 February for a date for the hearing of the matter to be allocated.